AUTHOR=Focke Niels K. , Trost Sarah , Paulus Walter , Falkai Peter , Gruber Oliver 

TITLE=Do Manual and Voxel-Based Morphometry Measure the Same? A Proof of Concept Study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=Volume 5 - 2014

YEAR=2014

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00039

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00039

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) is a commonly used method to study volumetric variations on a whole brain basis. However it is often criticised for potential confounds, mainly based on imperfect spatial registration. We therefore aimed to evaluate if VBM and “gold-standard” manual volumetry are measuring the same effects with respect to subcortical grey matter volumes. Manual regions-of-interest (ROIs) were drawn in the hippocampus, amygdala, nucleus accumbens, thalamus, putamen, pallidum and caudate nucleus bilaterally. Resulting volumes were used for a whole brain VBM correlation analysis with SPM8. The hippocampus, amygdala, putamen and caudate nucleus were correctly identified by SPM using the contemporary high-dimensional normalization (DARTEL toolbox). This strongly suggests that VBM and manual volumetry both are indeed measuring the same effects with regard to subcortical brain structures.